Widow Blamed For Husband's Death, Arrested After 15-month Investigation Joe Foley Was Shot At Their Home In Fountain Hill. Police Say His Wife Was Having An Affair.

The widow of slain child advocate Joe Foley was charged Friday with killing her husband, ending a 15-month investigation that revealed Kathleen Ann Foley was having an affair with a co-worker and planned to leave her husband just before the murder.

Kathleen "Katy" Foley, 38, of 1308 Moravia St., Fountain Hill, was arrested at home around 6 a.m. by state police and charged with criminal homicide. She was arraigned before District Justice Anthony Rapp of Salisbury Township and committed to Lehigh County Prison without bail.

"Through continuous and painstaking work, certain evidence has been developed within the last several weeks which has provided me and the Pennsylvania State Police with the linchpin of probable cause," District Attorney James Martin said during a news conference at state police Troop M headquarters in Bethlehem.

Martin would not say what the linchpin evidence is, but an affidavit filed Thursday at Rapp's office by Trooper Judith Schreiber reveals a number of details about the investigation.

According to the arrest papers:

*Forensic evidence suggests Joe Foley died between 8 and 10 p.m. July 30, 1998 -- several hours before Kathleen Foley told police she last saw him alive.

*Kathleen Foley was the only other person in the house at the time of her husband's death. There was no evidence of forced entry into the home.

*Ballistic evidence suggests Joe Foley was killed with his own gun. Police still have not recovered the murder weapon, but a metal box in which police believe the gun was kept was discovered in a cabinet in the master bedroom containing Kathleen Foley's shoes.

*Kathleen Foley cashed the couple's bonds and gave a large sum of money and gifts to George Fleming, her lover.

*Kathleen Foley made three phone calls from her home to Fleming's pager around the time authorities believe Joe Foley was killed. When first asked about the calls, she lied to investigators about her relationship with Fleming.

"As this investigation began to unfold, the evidence began to point more and more exclusively at Kathleen Ann Foley," state police Capt. Theodore Kohuth said. "There are no investigative gaps."

Despite Martin's contention that newly uncovered evidence led to the arrest, Glenn Clark, his Democratic opponent in the district attorney race in Tuesday's election, speculated the timing was politically motivated.

"On nine or 10 occasions, I have asked why no action was taken in the July 30, 1998, murder of Joseph Foley," Clark said in a prepared statement. "Apparently, my persistence and prodding finally got the district attorney to arrest the obvious suspect 15 months later.

"If you've got to wait for the election to come to take action, then what are we going to be doing for the next four years?"

Martin said Clark's criticism is irresponsible and unwarranted.

"I think it's fair to say that Glenn Clark has absolutely no shame in the statements he will make," Martin said. "They are the desperate ravings of a desperate man.

"Let me assure you that neither the district attorney nor the Pennsylvania State Police file criminal charges out of any political considerations."

Foley family members declined to comment and said Martin has asked them not to talk about the case.

Joseph Mark Foley, 39, was found dead in the master bedroom of the couple's home around 6 a.m. July 31, 1998. He had been shot several times while lying in bed.

He was a founder of the local chapter of Project Children, a program that brings children from strife-torn Northern Ireland to the Lehigh Valley for summer vacations.

Kathleen Foley told investigators she and her husband were at home together from about 8:30 p.m. July 30 until she discovered her husband's body at 5:49 a.m. the next day. She told police the last time she saw her husband alive was around 12:45 a.m., when she left their bedroom and went to sleep in another bedroom because of his loud snoring.

She said she never heard a gunshot or other unusual noises between the time she left the master bedroom and the time she found her husband's body.

Investigators recreated the shooting and determined it would be "highly unlikely" for her not to have heard the shots.

Forensic evidence based on the blood-alcohol ratio in Foley's body and the amount of beer he drank earlier in the day determined the time of Joe Foley's death, the affidavit says.

Two of Joe Foley's friends tried to phone him around 10 that night, and Kathleen Foley told them her husband was asleep. She told police her husband was too drunk to take their calls.

But toxicology tests revealed Joe Foley would not have been drunk at the time, the document said.

Additional inconsistencies were revealed in Kathleen Foley's statements about the alleged murder weapon, an FEG 9X18-caliber semiautomatic pistol that Joe Foley bought in 1993, according to the arrest papers.

Kathleen Foley initially said her husband got rid of the gun several years ago, but she told people she kept a gun in the house as recently as summer 1998.